OverShadowed

2

(Re-Written Chapter on April 16th, 2023)
The two weren't walking for very long until the white disappeared and faded into a long, enticing hallway. Much different than the void that MiiMii could've sworn was that of an insane asylum. As Hazel dragged her along with her through the hallway, MiiMii couldn't help but look around in mesmerization. She looked around astonished, her eyes gleaming as they darted around to every little detail that lined the walls. Peeking behind her, Hazel chuckled as she watched her, coming to a pause leading to MiiMii bumping into her- immediately jolting back as she realized what she just did. "Shoot- I'm sorry! Are you okay?" Hazel shook her head and smiled. "Nonono- don't apologize! I couldn't help but notice you looking around, I just wanted to see what you thought. Interested in anything?"

"Yeah, actually." She nodded her head slowly as her eyes continued to dart around. "How long.. how long has this-" she waved her hand around in motion to everything around her. "Been going on?" Hazel paused to think, her ears twitching as she did so. "Mmm- ten years or so! Yep!" She chirped, her tails wagging as she swung her arms from side to side. MiiMii's jaw almost dropped. "Ten years?!" "Yep! Pretty cool, right? Now come on- you've had enough of a look around for now. I can give you a tour later if you want! We gotta go meet the others- I can't keep them waiting anymore!" Oh god. She forgot she was actually gonna go meet other- people..? She was hesitant on the word people. Not quite sure what she'd call herself, let alone Hazel.

Stopping at a door, Hazel held a finger up to her mouth and told MiiMii to hush. Even though she wasn't making any noise. She pushed her off to the side, and then-

Bam. She swung the door open, almost right off its hinges. Immediately there was noises of complaints coming from the room she just opened. "Hiiiii everybody!~" she chirped joyfully. "Hazel, please. You've gotta start swinging the doors open so harshly like that... you're gonna break something."

"Yeah- come on dude! We literally JUST fixed it from you from the last time!" A small chirp was heard from a semi-large tabby cat sitting in a chair. It seemed to be annoyed. "Alright, alright! All of you shut it and let Hazel speak. Hopefully it's not about Sprite or something stupid again.."

"Thank you Frostie! But also ouch. That hurt. Now what was I gonna say?" She snapped her fingers and her ears perked up. "Oh, that's right! Everybody, we've got a newcomer! Before you say it, I KNOW it's been years- but-" She reached out of the doorframe and dragged MiiMii into everyone's field of view, and everyone gasped. Except the tabby. She physically couldn't. "MiiMii's here!~" she called out in a sing song-like voice.

MiiMii waved shyly. Judging by the way everyone reacted and the looks on their faces, she knew she wasn't supposed to be here yet. Or maybe even at all. Suddenly, the blueish-teal.. animal? What was she? Stood up, and her expression quickly dropped from shocked to pissed. She slammed her hands on the table, eyeing Hazel desperately as she spoke. "Hazel!" Her voice boomed out in the room making MiiMii recoil a bit. "A word outside please. Now." Hazel gulped. Kind of audibly in a cartoony way. "O-Oh! Alright.. um.. okay! Everyone, I'm going to leave MiiMii here with you for a minute! Please be nice to her and don't maul her or anything." She glared at the only human in the room while she said that. "She doesn't know where she is and blah blah blah.. also tell her about yourselves!" With that, Hazel was dragged outside by the teal-blue-animal-thing.

...Well, shit. Now MiiMii was left alone with a bunch of strangers.

"Well.. hi there!" A pastel-looking husky with a crown adorned on her head waved, gesturing her to sit down with her. "H-Hello." MiiMii stuttered out. She anxiously walked over and sat down next to the husky. "Please don't be shy, dear! I promise we don't bite! Well.. except Blaze. And maybe Aubrey too if she's hungry." The husky earned a glare from the one who MiiMii assumed was Blaze. "My name is Pastel! It's a pleasure to finally meet you, dearie. Even if you are a little earlier than expected." What did they mean by early? First Hazel, now this Pastel person. As she nodded slowly taking in all the new information, Pastel went on. "I rule the kingdom of Yalarvia, I'm almost positive you've never heard of it but that's okay! It's rather far from here anyway, in her mind." Quickly, Pastel excused herself from her chair for a second to click a collar around the Tabby cat's neck. MiiMii also noted it had a speaker on it. "This is Jay! She's my little guardian angel." She pet Jay on her head, and the speaker buzzed out. "Hello!" It emitted. "H-How?" Before MiiMii could even begin to question, the cat went on. "My name is Jay! I'm the oldest one here, believe it or not. This is my owner, Pastel!" She pushed her head up into Pastel's hand lovingly. "She's very nice and kind and I'm sure you'll love her a lot! She gives good head pats and hugs and kisses." Pastel giggled as Jay finished. "Oh, Jay, there's no need for all that nonsense." Jay purred as she left her seat and crawled into Pastel's lap- who had sat down next to MiiMii again. MiiMii couldn't even begin to question how Jay was the oldest- hell she looked to be no older than 3 years at most. Suddenly, Jay went quiet as Pastel unclipped her collar. All that was left was the sound of her purring. "Weird technology, I know! But that's how Jay communicates with us, since she can't normally talk. Aubrey designed it for us after her girlfriend put it into action for their dog Buttercup."

Aubrey must've been the only human in the room, since she did a mock salute when her name was mentioned. Now that MiiMii looked around, everyone was just silently watching her. "Nice to meet you, MiiMii. I'm Aubrey, though my name used to be Silent. However that wasn't exactly 'kid friendly'."

"A human..?"

"Duh! Well my girlfriend JessieBelle and I are basically the only ones, except Jessie doesn't really come out much. She isn't exactly allowed. Don't worry, I'm not gonna slaughter you or anything cause you're an animal. I would've killed the other furries in the room with me already if I was!" She cackled and MiiMii's face deadpanned. Then she realized. Wait- murder? She looked at Aubrey in horror who was trying to contain her laughter. "Never heard of me? That's alright. Yeah I'm a 'murderer' or whatever." Shit. She was right, she was so going to die. "Wait a minute! Not really anymore- Ah fuck it I dunno. That's just the universe where I came from. Don't worry your little tail off! You're safe." "Gee, thanks Aubrey." She gave her a thumbs up. "Wow. Way to scare her before she even met the rest of us."

"Oh shut up you emo-ass Tiger. Nobody wants to know who you are anyway." He growled, and leaned back in his chair kicking his feet up on the table. "Howdy. Names Blaze, although Pastel RUDELY introduced me." He chuckled, making MiiMii relax a little bit. "It's nice to meet you, you're all Hazel talks about whenever she gets a glimpse of what you've done. I've gotta admit, she speaks pretty highly of you for someone she doesn't even know." He reached his hand out and MiiMii shook it. "Like everyone else already said, it's nice to meet you."

MiiMii sat back down again in her seat next to Pastel. "Well," Aubrey started as she took out a notebook and pencil. "Wanna tell us about yourself kiddo? Gotta know what kept you in business for so long!"

...

Outside, Frost was pacing back and forth as she spoke. She was practically fuming, speaking through gritted teeth. "Hazel. Why is she here?" Hazel put her hands out to try and calm Frost down, who swatted them away quickly. "Woah Woah! Calm down first Frostie, she's not hurting anyone!"

"Are you kidding me!?! Hazel. She's too EARLY. Do you even KNOW what that means?" Hazel tried to answer, but Frost cut her off. "It means Kenzie's out there and none of us are there with her! What if she DIES or something?!" Hazel huffed, grabbing Frost's shoulders firmly staring her dead in the eyes with a serious look- something out of the ordinary for Hazel. She wasn't serious often. "Frost. Obviously she isn't dead and won't die, first of all, otherwise she'd be down here with us already! Look, I don't think.. I don't think he's gotten to her yet. We would've known already!"

"Hazel. Smiley. WHY IS SMILEY HERE? THATS NOT GOOD!" She shoved Hazel's hands off of her angrily and started to pace again. "I'm gonna kill her. I'm gonna kill that smiley bastard if something bad happened to Kenzie! WHY DID SHE LEAVE HER ALONE? SHE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO!" "Frost, Please just-" Her fist slammed into the wall and the chattering in the other room fell silent immediately.

"No, Hazel. Somethings obviously wrong. And if that thing is the reason why something is wrong, I'm not going to let her go."